62d Congress, ) HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, j Report 
^d 8essio7i. J j No. 431. 



COMPILATTOX OF REVOLUTIONARY WAR RECORDS. 



March 20, 1912.— Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the state of 
the Union and ordered to be printed. 



Mr. Hay, from the Committee on Military AiTairs, submitted the 

following 

REPORT. 

[To accompany S. 271.] 

The Committee on Military A-Tairs, to whom was referred the bill 
(S. 271) to authorize the compilation of the military and naval 
records of the Revolutionary War with a view to their publication, 
having considered the same, report thereon with a recommendation 
that it do pass with the following amendments: 

Page 2, line 1, strike out the word "fifty" and insert the words 
"twenty-five." 

Page 2, line 2, strike out the word "ten" and insert the word 
"seven." 

Page 2, line 3, after the word "Department" insert a colon and 
the words: ^'Provided, That the aforesaid sums of money shall be 
expended respectively under the direction of the Secretary of War and 
the Secretary of the Navy, and that they shall make to Congress 
each year detailed statements showing how the money herein appro- 
priated has been expended and to whom." 

Page 2, line 3, after the word ^'Provided" insert the word "further," 

Your committee has given very careful consideration to the pro- 
visions of this bill, and is impressed with the importance, in the 
interest of history and truth, of collecting and preserving the mili- 
tary and naval records of the Revolutionary War, many of which are 
scattered over the country, and which if not copied and preserved 
might be either lost or destroyed. 

The report of the Senate committee is herewith filed as a part of 
this report. 



\z.'^'^^\r< 



■115S 



COMPILATION OF EEVOLUTIONARY WAR RECOEDS, 
[Senate Report No. 176, Sixty-second Congress, second session.] 



The Committee on Military Affairs, to which was referred the bill (S. 271; to author- 
ize the compilation of the military and naval records of the Revolutionary War with 
a view to their publication, having carefully considered the same, reports it back to 
the Senate favorably and recommends its passage as amended. 

A similar bill (S. 6991) received favorable consideration by the Senate in the 
Sixty-first Congress, but was not acted upon in the House of Representatives. Atten- 
tion is invited to the favorable report made by the committee to the Senate upon that 
bill, as follows: 

The Committee on ]\lilitary Affairs, to whom was referred the bill (S. 6991) to 
authorize the compilation of the military and naval records of the Revolutionary War 
with a view to their publicatiem, have given the same their careful consideration and 
report it back with the recommendation that it do pass. 

In connection therewith attention is respectfully invited to the indorsements of the 
Assistant Secretary of War and The Adjutant General, United States Army, on the 
aforesaid measure under dates of March 17, 1910, and March 16, 1910, respectivelv. 

Also to the act of July 27, 1892 (Stat. L., vol. 27, 275), and an extract froni the 
sundry civil act of August 18, 1894 (28 Stat. L., 403). 

Also to communication to the chairman of the Committee on Military Affairs, United 
States Senate, under date of March 19, 1910, from the Acting Secretary of the Navy; 
letter of The Adjutant General, United States Army, of June 4, 1910; and letter from 
the Assistant Secretary of the Navy of June 6, 1910. All of which are hereto attached 
and made a part of this report. 

[First indorscu'enl.] 

War Department, 
The Adjutant General's Office, 

Washington, March 16, 1910. 

Respectfully returned to the honorable the Secretary of War. 

By the act of Congress approved July 27, 1892 (27 Stat. L., 275), it was directed 
"That the military records of the American Revolution and of the War of 1812, now 
preserved in the Treasury and Interior Departments, be transferred to the War 
Department, to be preserved in the Record and Pension Office (now The Adjutant 
General's Office) of that department, and that they shall be properly indexed and 
arranged for use"; and in the sundry civil act approved August 18, 1894 (28 Stat. L., 
403), it was provided that "All military records, such as muster and pay rolls, orders, 
and reports relative to the personnel or the operations of the Armies of the Revolu- 
tionary War and the War of 1812, now in any of the executive departments, shall be 
transferred to the Secretary of War to be preserved, indexed, and prepared for 
publication." 

It is evident from the legislation cited that Congress desired to have all the mili- 
tary records of the Revolutionary War in the several executive departments brought 
together in the War Department with a view to the printing of those records when 
the collection had been made as complete as possible. Under that legislation large 
collections of records of the Revolutionary War were transferred from the State, 
Navy, and Interior Departments and are now on file in The Adjutant General's Office 
of the War Department, with other similar records previously filed there,' and were 
indexed and arranged for use. 

But even with the accessions resulting from the legislation before referred to the 
collection of records of the Revolutionary War in the possession of the War Depart- 
ment, although large, is very far from complete. Many military records of the Revo- 
lution, of which there are no other copies in existence, are known to be in the custody 
of the Library of Congress, the authorities of the several States, and of historical socie- 
ties and individuals. 

It is evident that before the printing of the military archives of the Revolution is 
undertaken by the Government all of those archives in its custody or under its control 
should be gathered together in one place, either in the ^^'ar Department or in the 
Library of Congress, and that that collection should be completed by obtaining, as 
far as possible, copies of records in the custody cf the authorities of the several States 
and of historical societies and individuals. The preparation of the military records 
of the Revolutionary War for printing, and the printing of those records, should be 
done under the supervision of either the Secretary of War or the Librarian of Congress. 
Undoubtedly the military officers under the control of the War Department and the 
employees of that department by reason of their experience in military affaii-s and 
in the use of military records, are especially well qualified for this work, but there 
Beems to be no reason why the work should not be done well by the Librarian of Con- 
gress and the employees under his charge. 

_^^ .. F. 0. Ainsworth, 

"'* ' The Adjutant General. 



COMPILATIOX OF REVOLUTIONARY WAR RECORDS. 3 

[Second ir.dorspment.] 

War Department, March 17, 1910. 
Respectfully retm-ned to the chairman Committee on Military Affairs, United 
States Senate, invitine; attention to the foregoing report of The Adjutant General of 
the Array. 

Robert Shaw Oliver, 
Assistant Secretary of War. 

[Chap. L'r>7. All act to provide for the collection, custody, and arrangement of the military records of the 
American Revolution and the War of Eighteen hundred and t';"elve.] 

Whereas the military records of the American Revolution and of the War of Eight- 
een hundred and twelve are now preserved in different executive departments of 
the Government and are not easily accessible; and 

Whereas it is important that they should be collected in one department, where 
they could be easily consulted and properly indexed and arranged iox use: Therefore 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America 
in Congress assembled, That the military records of the American Revolution and of the 
War of Eighteen hundred and twelve, now preserved in the Treasury and Interior 
Departments, be transferred to the War Department, to be preserved in the Record 
and Pension Division of that Department, and that they shall be properly indexed and 
arranged for use. 

Approved July 27, 1892. 

[Chap. 301. An act making appropriations for sundry civil expenses of the Government for the fiscal year 
ending June thirtieth, eighteen hundred "and ninety-five, and for other purposes.] 

******* 

That all n\ilitary records, such as muster and pay rolls, orders, and reports relating 
to the personnel or the operations of the armies of the Revolutionary War and of the 
War of Eighteen hundred and twelve, now in any of the executive departments, shall 
be transferred to the Secretary of War, to be preserved, indexed, and prepared for 
publication. 

Department of the Navy, 

Office of the Secretary, 

Washington, March 19, 1910. 

My Dear Senator: Referring to the bill (S. 6991) to authorize the compilation of 
the military and naval records of the Revolutionary War with a viev/ to their publi- 
cation, forwarded from the committee on the 9th instant with the request for any 
information relative to the measure in possession of this department, I have the 
honor to inform you that the following provisions of law, now in force, bear upon the 
subject matter of the proposed measiu'e: 

"All naval records, such as muster and pay rolls, orders, and reports relating to the 
personnel and operations of the Navy of the United States, from the beginning of the 
Navy Department to the War of the Rebellion, eighteen hundred and sixty-one, 
including operations against the French Navy, Tripolitan War, War of Eighteen 
hundred and twelve, operations against pirates in the West Indies, Florida War, and 
the War with Mexico, now in any of the executive departments, shall be transferred 
to the Secretary of the Navy, to be preserved." (33 Stat., 403.) 

"That all records (such as muster and pay rolls and reports) relating to the per- 
sonnel and operations of public and private armed vessels of the North American 
colonies in the War of the Revolution now in any of the executive departments shall 
be transferred to the Secretary of the Navy, to be preserved, indexed, and prepared 
for publication." (34 Stat., 579.) 

Under the authority of the latter proA'ision some rolls, mainly of privateers, have 
been transferred from the War Department, and have been prepared for publication. 
There are further considerable quantities of naval records of the Revolutionary War 
in various collections owned by societies, institutions, private individuals, libraries, 
and in the Ivibrary of Congress. 

In \'iew of the manifest desirability of preserving the naval records of the Nation 
with a view to their publication, the measure is commended to the committee for its 
favorable consideration . 

Faithfully, yours, Beekman Winthrop, 

Acting Secretary of the Navy. 

The Chairman Committee on Military Affairs, 

United States Senate. 



4 COMPILATION OF REVOLUTIONARY WAR RECORDS. 

War Department, 
The Adjutant General's Office, 

Washington, June 4, 1910. 

My Dear Sir: In response to your personal request of this morning for informa- 
tion as to what progress has been made in compiling and preparing for publication 
the military records of the Revolutionary War, I beg leave to advise you as follows: 

Many military records of the Revolutionary War were transferred from the State, 
Navy, and Interior Departments to the Record and Pension Office [now The Adjutant 
General's Office] of the War Department under the acts of Congress approved July 27, 
1892 (27 Stat. L., 275), and August 18, 1894 (28 Star. L., 403). Those records, with 
other similar records previously on file, were reproduced by the index-record card 
system, so that they can be very easily made ready for publication as soon as the 
records of that war shall have been made as nearly complete as possible from sources 
outside the War Department. 

As the work of arranging and reproducing those records progressed, it was discov- 
ered that the collection of Revolutionary records in the possession of the General 
Government is far from complete. Many such records, of which there are no copies 
in existence, are in the custody of the authorities of the several States, of historical 
societies, and of individuals. In addition to this, military records of the Revolutionary 
War, of which no copies are in the possession of the United States or any of the States, 
will undoubtedly be found in the possession of the British and French Governments. 

Systematic efforts were begun, by correspondence, to make the War Department 
collection of Revolutionary records as complete as possible by obtaining the temporary 
loan of records in the possession of States and historical societies in order that those 
records might be copied and that the historical information contained in them might 
be incorporated with that obtained from the records in the possession of the War 
Department. Some of the States loaned their records to be copied, but work in this 
line was finally suspended because of the lack of funds necessary for its successful 
prosecution by means other than that of correspondence, the possibilities of which 
had been exhausted, and because the pressure of other work left none of the limited 
clerical force of the office available for this work. 

It is clearly not advisable to undertake the publication of any portion of the mil- 
itary records of the Revolutionary War, especially those relating to the individual 
histories of officers and enlisted men, until every availaljle source of information shall 
have been exhausted. Too many hasty, incomplete, and inaccurate historical pub- 
lications have already been made, and that number ought not to ] e increased liy the 
premature pullication of the military records of the Revolution. 

Much work remains to be done in the way of oV:taining copies of records in the 
possession of States, historical societies, foreign Governments, and individuals Ijefore 
the War Department will le ai le to furnish anything more than a very incomplete 
statement of the military histories of the officers and men of the Revolution. The 
amount of time that will Ve required to make a reasonaVly complete collection of 
the military records of the Revolutionary War and the amount of money that it will 
be necessary to expend in doing that work can not le stated, even approximately, 
at the present time. It is certain, however, that it will recjuire much time and labor, 
and will necessitate the expenditure of a consideralle sum of money to locate the 
missing military records of the Revolutionary War that are still in existence outside 
the files of the War Department, to make or obtain copies of those records, and to 
prepare them for pullication. 

Very respectfully, F. C. Ainsworth. 



Hon. Morgan G. Bulkelev. 

United States Senate. 



The Adjutant General. 



Department of the Navy, 

Office of the Secretary^, 

Washington, .June 6, 1910. 
My' Dear Senator: Referring to the matter of Senate I ill No. 6991, to authorize 
the compilation of the military and naval records of the Revolutionary War with a 
view to their i)ublication, I have the honor to inform you as follows: 

1. With reference to the volume of the work, there is pul lished by the Lil^raryof 
Congress under the title of "The Naval Records of the Revolutionary War," a cal- 
endar of papers which includes a large proportion of records of privateers, also under 



COMPILATION 0^ REVOLUTIONARY WAR RECORDS. 5 

the title of the "John Paul Jones" calendar there is published a list of letters of that 
officer. 

In the library of the Navy Department there are some 200 MSS., letters, papers, 
lists of privateers, etc., all relating to this subject, also copies of John Paul Jones's 
correspondence at St. Marys Isle, copies of logs of the several ships Ranger, Bonhomme 
Richard. Queen of France, Alliance, Serapis, and Ariel while Jones was on those vessels. 

There are in widely scattered locations many other authentic copies and original 
manuscripts relating to naval affairs of the period in question. The collections of 
the State Historical Society or in the State archives of Massachusetts, New Hamp- 
shire, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, 
Virginia, and North Carolina are of considerable volume. 

Similarly, the private collections of Capt. John S. Barnes; Dr. Moffatt, of Brookline, 
Mass.; Mr. Havemeyer, of New York, the American Philosophical Society of Phila- 
delphia; and several libraries contain naval papers relating to the subject. Papers 
of Adams, Monroe, Madison, Jefferson, etc., and those of naval officers of the Conti- 
nental Navy contain fragmentary papers relating to the operations and administration 
of the Navy of that period . 

2. With reference to the length of time necessary to perform the labor .contem- 
plated by the bill, it may be said that the examination of this large amount of material, 
the selection therefrom of matter to be copied, and its later arrangement are part 
of the work to be done before any of the copy could be sent to the printer. It is 
roughly estimated that this material would produce at least two and probably three 
1,000-page octavo volumes. It is not possible to state with any degree of definiteness 
what the length of time would be to do this part of the work, owing to possible delays 
in obtaining access to and search through various collections. 

3. With reference to the probable cost, this is also a matter of some uncertainty, 
on account of unforeseen difficulties in selecting, copying, and compiling the neces- 
sary matter. It would be necessary to decide upon the class of material to be selected 
and copied, and it would be essential, for economical reasons, that the compilation 
should be practically completed before any printing be done. 

The cost of printing one volume would be for the first thousand copies $4,500, and 
for each additional thousand $500. 

It is estimated that for selection, copying, compiling, and preparing the two vol- 
umes for the printer the cost would be $20,000, with an additional $10,000 for printing 
the first thousand of the two. For 10,000 copies of each, the total cost would be 
approximately $40,000. 

It is understood that the papers, documents, record, etc., desii-ed by the Govern- 
ment in this connection would be loaned for the piu-poses of publication, and also 
that all papers in the Library of Congress would remain there. 

The following provisions of law have a bearing upon the bill: 

"All naval records, such as muster and pay rolls, oi-ders, and reports relating to the 
personnel and operations of the Navy of the United States, from the beginning of 
the Navy Department to the \\'ar of the Rebellion, eighteen hundred and sixty-one, 
including operations against the French Navy, Tripolitan War, War of Eighteen hun- 
dred and twelve, operations against pirates in the West Indies, Florida War, and the 
War with Mexico now in any of the executive departments shall be transferred to the 
Secretary of the Navy, to be preserved." (33 Stat., 403.) 

"That all records (such as muster and pay rolls and reports) relating to the per- 
sonnel and operations of public and private armed ve.^sels of the North American 
Colonies in the War of the Revolution now in any of the executive departments 
shall be transferred to the Secretary of the Navy, to be preserved, indexed, and 
prepared for publication." (34 Stat., 579.) 

Under authority of the latter provision some rolls, mainly of privateers, have been 
transferred from the War De])artment, and have been ])repared for publication. As 
has been already stated, there are further considerable quantities of naval records of 
the Revolutionary War in various collections owned by societies, indi\'iduals, institu- 
tions, libraries, and in the Libraiy of Congi'ess which would be necessary to any 
complete compilation of the naval history of those times. 
Faithfully, yours, 

Beekman Winthrop, 
Assistant Secretary of the Navy. 

Hon. Morgan G. Bulkeley, United States Senator, 

United States Senate. 
Amend the bill in line 4, page 1, by striking out the words "and compile" and 
insert in lieu thereof the words "or copy and classify." 



6 COMPILATION OF REVOLUTIONABY WAR RECORDS. 

Amend the bill in line 7, page 1, by striking out the words "and compile" and 
insert in lieu thereof the words "or copy and classify." 

Amend the bill on page 2 by striking out the period at the end of section 3, inserting 
in lieu thereof a colon, and adding the following: 

'^Provided, That no part of the sum hereby appropriated shall be used in the purchase 
of any such records that may be discovered either m the hands of private owners or in 
public depositories." 

Amend the title of the bill so as to read: "A bill to authorize the collection of the 
military and naval records of the Revolutionary War with a view to their publication." 

o 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



011 800 679 3 



